Low Earth Orbit

UN deals with the hard cases

While Britain and the EU can afford to fritter their days away in trivia, the UN bears the great weight of the world on its broad shoulders. This week, it decided to get tough with Cambodian strongman Hun Sen. Not because he scuppered the UN's plans for Khmer Rouge genocide trials, or because he deposed his co-prime minister, Prince Ranariddh, and tore up the UN-backed political settlement in Phnom Penh. No, as AFP reported, Hun Sen was "told by the United Nations he was the biggest smoker among world leaders".

[source, source]

Because you're a white boy, that's why

[source, source, source, source] Steven Hinkle attempted to post a flier on a public bulletin board at California Polytechnic's multi-culture center. Some other students nearby, eating pizza, were offended that Hinkle would post something there. The end result was the Hinkle didn't put up his flier and was _charged with being 'disruptive'_. The best summation is

Student Steve Hinkle's crimes, explicitly detailed at the hearing he was forced to endure, were (a) being white, (b) blond, (c) blue-eyed, and (d) publicizing an appearance by a _conservative_ black author, Mason Weaver.

The other money quote is

Authorities at Cal Poly say it was not the content of Hinkle's flier, but rather his very presence that was "disruptive."

Apparently not all ethnicities are welcome in a multi-cultural center.

Party of the fat cats

As has been the norm for modern election cycles, the Republicans are receiving far more of the small political donations while Democrats rake in the cash from rich donors [source, source]:

But by any standard of measurement, they're simply wrong. George W. Bush's GOP is the party of the little guy. A new study by the Center for Responsive Politics found that in the last election cycle, people who gave less than $200 to politicians or parties gave 64 percent of their money to Republicans. Just 35 percent went to Democrats. On the other hand, the Center found that people who gave $1 million or more gave 92 percent to Democrats - and a whopping eight percent to Republicans.